


we didn't start the fire (it was always burning, since the world's been turning)

by cryptibs



Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Arguing, Arson, Blood, Emotional Hurt, Fire, Gen, Hurt, Hurt No Comfort, SHIPPERS DNI, Toby Smith | Tubbo Has Horns, goat boy haha loser, no beta we die like ranboo in water, no ships in this fic bc theyre CHILDREN, partial flower language, tommy goes apeshit, what about it, yes i made this because of the we didnt start the fire lyrics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-19 05:15:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29621169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cryptibs/pseuds/cryptibs
Summary: tommy goes apeshit and commits arson: the fic that literally took me a month to write bc i lost motivationanyways i havent posted in a while so here yall go lol :]WARNINGS: uhhh kinda swearing? tommy basically yells at tubbo like twice so theres that, mentions of creepy smiles and blood, arson, fire, just stuff burning basically(if you mention how this stuff goes away from canon i Will Cry pls i started it in like january when l'manburg was still a thing)hey there u should maybe check out my twitter,,, its @/camjammed and i post banger tweets and dumb mcyt art there sometimes ;P
Relationships: Niki | Nihachu & Toby Smith | Tubbo, Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit
Comments: 1
Kudos: 26





	we didn't start the fire (it was always burning, since the world's been turning)

A bee brushed against Tubbo's hand, quietly humming in the peaceful quiet. The sweet smell of flowers was strongly evident in the sunny field, drawing the bees out of their homes and into the sunlight.

A shift in movement made the boy look up, turning his head to see Tommy leaning to the side to pluck more yellow flowers from the ground beside him. Tubbo's own knotted flowers rested in his hands, a bee attempting to climb inside one to reach the pollen hidden. He gently knocked a finger against it, letting it hop aboard his hand, before depositing it on a much more secure poppy nearby. 

Wind made his long hair fall into his eyes, he flicked it back with a hand, starting to weave the last bunch of flowers he had collected.

The bright blue flowers tickled his hands as he pressed the stems together, repeating the weaving process patiently as wind ruffled his hair again. 

Carefully plucking the leaves off of the many stems, Tubbo held out the flower crown, pleased with its vague round shape and beautiful colors.

Turning to tap Tommy’s shoulder, he held out the crown outstretched, watching as his friend paused in the creation of his own crown, and delicately picked up the crown. 

The blonde beside him placed the circlet carefully onto his head, meeting his eyes after. It was then that Tubbo noticed the similar shades of blue between the flowers and his friends eyes, smiling even wider than before. 

“What's up with the happy face, big man? S’ just a buncha flowers.”

“It matches your eyes! Looks cool I guess!”

The taller boy crossed his eyes, then seemingly realized he couldn’t look at his own eyes. Tubbo erupted into giggles on watching him look confused for a solid five seconds, curling over slightly onto himself.

“D- did you just try to-”

“NO. SHUT UP. I DIDN’T TRY IT.”

“But y- you-” Tubbo cut himself off with his own wheeze, glancing up for a split second and falling back into another fit of cackles upon seeing his friends angry expression.

“I’m very smart!! Smartest in the world! They call me ‘Big Brain Tommy’ y’know that?”

“Uh-huh, yeah I’m sure they do.” Still lightly laughing, Tubbo reached out to straighten the crown that had gotten lopsided in the chaos, tilting it to sit correctly before retreating his hand, only stopping to let himself lightly tap the blonde’s nose as a small final tease.

Of course, the boy let out a dramatic sputtering noise, acting as if he had been punched to the ground instead of just having his nose tapped,

“HOW DARE YOU!! THIS IS AN AFFRONT TO GOD- NO NOT GOD, ME!! I’M GOD AND YOU CHALLENGED ME!! YOU BITCH ASS-”

“Oh my god-”

“YOU BOOPED ME!! LIKE A FUCKIN’ DOG!! WHAT THE HELL-”

“You’re so dramatic, ender.”

The taller boy leaned back, crossing his arms in annoyance, pausing in his rant. 

“Not like you’re any different, remember the time I took your blanket-”

“I had reason to hit you! It was cold!”

“It still hurt!”

Both boys erupted into laughter, occasionally looking up in an attempt to calm down, and meeting each other's eyes, sending them back into fits of giggles. 

“God- I missed this.”

“Missed what?”

“Just.. laughing with you. I guess.”

“What do you mean? We always stay together!”

“Well yeah, but-”

A sharp smell split the comfortable atmosphere that had been created.

Smoke. Something was burning.

Tubbo sat up quickly, nearly tripping over his own feet in his haste to get up. The dark trees bordering the field now looked ominous, lurking in shadows. When had it turned night?

“Tommy! Get up! Somethings on fire!”

His friend still sat on the floor, titling his head in a questioning way. 

“What do you mean? Everything's fine!”

Tubbo looked down at Tommy, apprehension and a vague feeling of dread starting to creep over his shoulders.

“Do you not smell the smoke? We gotta go check on it!”

“Nothings wrong, big man! What are you on about?”

“I can smell a fire, Tommy! C’mon let's just go-” Tubbo bent down, tugging the sleeve of his taller friend's shirt, a hand brushed him off harshly, seemingly annoyed by his efforts to get the blonde to stand up.

“Stop being delusional, Tubbo. There's nothing wrong.”

“Get up! We need to-” Tubbo fell back against the grass, feeling a small crunch under his foot as he landed.

“Why the hell are you always so pushy?”

Tubbo opened his eyes, watching as his friend rose up to stand, anger flashing across his face clearly. The bright crown that Tubbo had gifted him less than five minutes ago was clutched in his hand roughly, the flowers squished mercilessly into a pulp.

“You always cling to me. Always shoving me around to come hang out with you on your newest project. It’s fuckin’ annoying.”

“What? Tom-”

“Just stop being so stupid. It’s ridiculous how oblivious you are to my problems with you.”

“You- you have-”

He continued on, ignoring Tubbo's attempt to interrupt him. 

“You constantly follow me around, you talk my fuckin’ ears off, you’re always getting me in trouble and making me take the blame, just get the hint!”

Tubbo froze, tears filling his eyes. The smell of smoke now grew stronger, accompanied by the loud crackling of a huge fire. He didn’t move from his spot on the ground, still staring up on somebody who he thought was his best friend.

“You- do you hate me?”

“Finally! You get it! Yes, I hate you. It wasn’t that hard to understand, huh?”

The tears nearly fell, Tubbo blinked them back hurriedly, not wanting to show yet another sign of weakness. Flecks of ash flew past his vision, a slight warmth coming from the edge of the forest to Tubbo’s left. 

But he didn’t care. Shock and hurt being the only emotions he could feel. 

The taller boy glanced down at his feet, lifting one up before slamming it down. The sound made Tubbo flinch back, staring at the spot where the flower crown he had given him used to be. Only a small squished batch of blue flowers remained, nearly covered completely in mud.

Tears fell down his face, Tubbo didn’t bother brushing them away, only staring emotionlessly at the ruined crown he had worked so hard over. 

It was faked. The friendship he had. The gifts he received. The kindness he thought was genuine. Everything. He was just an annoying, pestering person in Tommy’s eyes, pitied enough to not be shown hate up front.

The roar of a fire overtook his senses suddenly, he snapped back to reality, the dark tears dotting his shirt were nearly being evaporated by the heat of the flames nearby. The entire fields edge had been engulfed in fire, orange flicked on the burning grass

Tommy still stood. Red shirt matching the flames creeping closer behind him. 

Tubbo hoisted himself up, ignoring the glare digging into his face, focused on getting them both out safely. He could cry later.

“Ok- ok we gotta go- we gotta-”

“We don’t have to go anywhere. You’re doing it again, pushing me around.”

He stopped, staring at the taller teens blank face. 

“Do you not see the fire burning? I don’t care if you hate me with all your soul, I wanna get out of this before we both die!”

Silence answered him. Clearly the teen wasn’t going to help, so Tubbo spun, searching desperately for some sort of escape from the flames.

Hands suddenly gripped his shoulders, jolting him out of his concentration. 

“Don’t you get it Tubbo? There is a reason this is happening. There is a reason we are here.”

He yanked his shoulders away from the others grip, facing him with determination to at least get out alive.

“Stop being a cryptic fuck, Toms! We’re gonna die!”

The hands returned, this time he couldn’t shake out of them, eyes locked onto the taller’s. The blue had faded from them, leaving an ugly shade of milky yellow in its place, Tubbo was frozen in place by the others gaze, fear shooting through him.

“The fire is here, Tubbo. But we didn’t start it. We didn’t start the fire. We fuel it.” A hideous grin split across his face, teeth stained red with something Tubbo hoped wasn’t blood.

The roar of the fire became louder, shrieking in his ears like a siren's song, making him want to cup his hands over his ears, but he couldn’t. Still stuck in the same position, forced to only look into the eyes of someone he thought he could trust with his life. 

The warmth became a burning sensation, creeping around him, only shown in the flicker of light and orange colors at the edge of his vision.

Heat curled around him blistering his skin, the screams of the fire echoed in his head, sounding more and more like voices yelling at him, calling him names. The colors blinded him, but he couldn’t shut his eyes, tears fell heavily now, both from the heat drying his eyes and from the pain from the burns spreading across his skin. 

Tubbo jolted away, sitting up and curling into himself.

Tears fell, staining the green blankets with darker dots. 

A dream. It was just a dream.

It was a dream right? 

Then why did he still smell the sharp tang of smoke on the air?

Why did he hear the harsh crackling of wood being burned outside?

Why did he still hear screams, now more distant, but no less terrified.

Tubbo swung his feet over the edge of his bed, wincing at a slight heat felt creeping across the stone floor.

He hurried across the slowly warming floor, reaching for the metal door ring. A bright hot flash of pain greeted him, making Tubbo take back his hand harshly, holding it close to his chest.

Glancing around, Tubbo spied a thick cloth rag. He grabbed it, wrapping it securely around his unhurt hand before attempting to swing open the door again. 

The harsh squeaks made him wince, the screams that he had heard while first waking up were far more distant now, Tubbo didn’t know if that was good or bad.

A wave of heat drifted across his face gently as the door was cracked open, Tubbo squinted against it, uncomfortableness setting even more in his chest as he blinked to clear the tears that had sprung up.

Finally opening his eyes, Tubbo gasped at the scene he was greeted with.

Bright orange flames licked at the wooden buildings, yellow tinges moving quickly across the dried grass around the homes.

It had been an unusually dry and windy time for Snowchester, barely any snow settling on the forest’s branches. Tubbo hadn’t worried about it at the time he had noticed. Not thinking that anything bad would happen because of it.

He was clearly wrong.

Tubbo was snapped out of his shock as a loud snapping sound started from under his stairs, he quickly stepped off to the side, tumbling down the stairs in a heap as he tripped.

Looking up from his position on the ground, Tubbo watched as his porch collapsed under licking flames, orange fire easily eating through his stairs and door. 

Tubbo forced himself to look away from the scene, instead fixing his gaze on the place that used to be such a beautiful collection of houses.

Instead of the gentle dusting of snow falling across his face, Tubbo instead felt a sharp hot sting on his cheeks, looking up to see grey flakes of ash heavily coming from the sky.

A shriek punctured the moment of quiet he had, high pitched and filled with fear.

Tubbo hurriedly stood up, searching for the source of the sound. Fire still crackling loudly in his ears created a static background as he struggled to his feet.

Whipping his head around, Tubbo caught sight of Niki, her light blue sweater dusted with dark grey ash flecks. She looked up from her spot when she was standing, hand over her mouth.

“I-” she shakily inhaled, attempting to regain her composure even as fire and chaos made home around them. 

“F- foolish di- didn’t make it out in time..”

Tubbo’s stomach lurched, an ugly feeling settling itself into his chest.

Foolish was his friend. He had barely been on the server for more than a month. He didn’t deserve to die in such a stupid way.

God, he couldn’t keep anyone alive. Not when he was president of L’manburg, not when he's in charge of Snowchester. 

Useless.

A flash of red at the corner of his vision alerted Tubbo, distracting him from the tears brimming in his eyes.

He squinted, ignoring the feeling of ash still settling softly onto his messed up hair, probably caking his curled horns with an unwanted grime.

The red was a brighter shade than any of the fire, an unnatural angry color amongst all the flames.

He gasped in shock, jolting back suddenly.

It was Tommy.

Tommy. His best friend. His companion. 

His Tommy.

He tripped over his own feet, eyes locked onto the tall blond that stood only a short distance away. 

Faintly, Tubbo heard a shout from behind him, probably from Niki wondering where he was going. 

He stumbled over the smoldering remains of a log pile, coming to face the back of his best friends shirt.

Tubbo gently reached out, tears still running down his face, making clear light lines where they washed away the ash that had settled there.

A hand hit his own away.

Tubbo faintly felt shocked as he noticed a sting of pain where the boy had hit harshly.

Why? Why was this happening again? Why did the sting make him remember the dream that he had only just woken up from minutes earlier?

Looking up, he was not met with friendly or playful clear blue eyes.  
A dark shadow sat in Tommy’s eyes, a cold, fearful feeling creeped onto Tubbos shoulders.

A smile split across his friends face. Wide and grinning. J̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶d̶r̶e̶a̶m̶

Hands gripped his shoulders. J̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶d̶r̶e̶a̶m̶ 

A heated stone pressed against his arm. Tubbo looked down, seeing a half broken flint and steel clutched in the boy's palm.

Words were being spoken, he realized, snapping back to the present as he listened to his friend speak.

“You see this fire, Tubbo? You see it?” Tubbo nodded hesitantly in response, he felt fear sting his legs, but it may have been flames crawling up instead. T̶h̶e̶ ̶d̶r̶e̶a̶m̶.̶.̶.̶

“The fire exists because of us! Because of the discs!” Tubbo stared up at the boy, eyes scared and filling again with tears.

“The fire, it was meant to happen, Tubbo. It always was.” The grin on the other boy's face grew along with Tubbo's' fear.

“But this! This town, all the towns! All the nations and countries we’ve worked so, so hard to build..” 

Tubbo was scared. Plain and simple. He had never felt this terrified in his friends' presence. 

“The countries… they were never meant to be!”

Out from behind his back, Tommy held two black discs. Different centers clearly colored purple and crossed with stark white lines, and a bright green one, the color similar to the button shirt Tubbo wore so often, before the wars started. 

The names on the discs reflected clearly in the light from the fire still burning nearby.

Cat. Mellohi. 

Tommy and Tubbo's discs. Their most valued items.

They had lost lives over these discs.

Tommy let go of his shoulder, bringing up the flint and steel again.

Tubbo jerked forward, a silent plea.

Flames burst from the metal, sparks igniting the discs quickly.

Tommy dropped the melting remains, Tubbo stared at them as they were slowly consumed by the orange heat.

Memories flashed through his head. Peacefully sitting on a wooden bench with Tommy. Listening to soft music as they joked until the sun was in its resting spot, and the moon took its place across the sky.

A home. Clinks of bottles being sorted as laughs punctured the air, occasional shouts of happiness as one of them found an item they thought had been long lost.

Smiles and hugs. Friends being found and greeted warmly, welcomed into a home filled with gentle music and the smell of food being cooked. 

“The discs meant nothing, Tubbo.”

He looked up, making eye contact yet again with his f̶r̶i̶e̶n̶d̶ enemy.

The grin was still there, teeth shining in the fires light, eyes staring coldly down at him.

“You meant nothing.”

**Author's Note:**

> since im a sucker for flower language heres the flowers mention in this fic :] 
> 
> crown tubbo makes for tommy: borage flower - courage, bluntness
> 
> crown tommy makes for tubbo: yellow freesia - friendship, trust
> 
> hope yall enjoyed this fic! make sure to drink water n stay healthy :D <3


End file.
